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Article Number - 00035-2012
th
Date -
11
May 2012
Article applies to – All Digital Yacht AIS Products with USB connection
ISSUE:
Using OpenCPN Navigation Software with Digital Yacht AIS Units
OpenCPN, the popular Open Source Navigation Software package, has a very good AIS implementation and all
of Digital Yacht's AIS products that feature a USB interface can be used with it; both our range of receivers and
transponders. It is also possible to connect AIS units that only have an NMEA0183 output to OpenCPN, by
using Digital Yacht's NMEA to USB interface
(P/No
ZDIGUSBNMEA) and this Tech Note is applicable to this type
of installation as well.
OpenCPN is available for Windows PC, Macs and LINUX PCs – for more information click here.
USB Drivers
All USB devices require a suitable driver to be installed on the computer that they are connected to. The driver
tells the computer what the device is capable of doing and how to talk to it. All of Digital Yacht's products that
have a USB interface are supplied with the "Digital Yacht Software and Driver CD-Rom" and on this CD are all
the drivers for the popular operating systems.
Also on the CD and the Support section of our website (http://www.digitalyacht.co.uk), is a complete set of
Tech Notes and Manuals that explain how to install the drivers, which is not covered by this Tech Note.
The table below shows which operating systems need drivers to be installed from the CD, which can
automatically download them from the internet (if an internet connection is present) and which ones already
have the relevant driver pre-installed.
Products
Win XP
Win Vista/7
Mac OSX
LINUX
AIS Receivers
AIT250 + AIT1000 Transponders
AIT2000 Transponder
USB to NMEA Adaptor
Key to Icons:
CD Install
Download from Internet
Pre-Installed
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Table of Contents
Related Manuals for DIGITAL YACHT WL400
Summary of Contents for DIGITAL YACHT WL400
- Page 1 All USB devices require a suitable driver to be installed on the computer that they are connected to. The driver tells the computer what the device is capable of doing and how to talk to it. All of Digital Yacht’s products that have a USB interface are supplied with the “Digital Yacht Software and Driver CD-Rom”...
- Page 2 This process assumes that you have; 1) Installed OpenCPN 2) Already installed the USB drivers for the Digital Yacht AIS or USB to NMEA adaptor 3) That the AIS is powered up and receiving targets 4) If the AIS is a transponder that you have configured it to output GPS data and it is currently receiving a GPS position fix Run the OpenCPN program and click on the “Spanner”...
- Page 3 If you just have an AIS receiver and want to use an existing separate GPS connection then don’t change the NMEA Data Source setting and keep the existing settings that you had before, assuming that the GPS position was already working correctly. Now select the AIS tab and you will see the window shown below.
- Page 4 For LINUX the drop down selection list will look like this and you want to select the “/dev/ttyUSB0” device or similarly named device, not the “/dev/ttysX” devices which are conventional serial ports. Once you have selected the correct port for your AIS, simply click the OK button to save your settings and you should start to see your boat’s position and all of the AIS targets on the chart.
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